The Pediatrician Search

On Monday, I shared why finding the right pediatrician is so important to us. Today I want to share how I went about finding him or her.

While asking friends about their pediatrician recommendations is a great option and one I did use, not all people are looking for the same thing in a doctor. I'm the kind of person that wants a doctor who is very knowledgeable, a true expert in their field, but one who talks to me about everything and doesn't assume I'm too dumb to understand. This can be a challenge since most doctors either are just playing a guessing game and want to rush as many people in and out of appointments as possible or they are very condescending. So I knew the searching and interview process would be an arduous one.
Below are the steps I used to create my preliminary interview list:

1. Check for pediatric physicians using the provider online search tool from our insurance to make sure I only vetted doctors covered under our plan.
2. Then I double checked to make sure each one was part of the American Academy of Pediatrics
3. Finally I did a background check on their practicing history through the Texas Medical Board.  You can find your state's medical board website here. I wanted to make sure there were no malpractice claims or investigations for the doctors I screened.

Doing this I was able to create a list of 12 doctors to interview. On Friday, I'll share the details of the interview process.